The Magus of Genesis Volume 2 Chapter 10

Don’t let tonight’s meal be decided by the dragon.
Often misused to mean ‘It’s an unnecessarily perilous experience’,
a proverb pa.s.sed down through the Scarlet Clan.

“So tired…”

“Good work.”

Nina pitied me indifferently as I returned from the day’s cla.s.ses and sat back against a chair.

Ten days had pa.s.sed since the transfer students’ special cla.s.ses began. The clamor that happened on the first day has steadily gotten worse, so the cla.s.ses have only been proceeding at a snail’s pace. Each time I try to teach something about magic, it turns into a giant fuss despite my best efforts to avoid it.

“Are things moving along well with general education?”

I ended up leaving that side the education entirely to Nina and Violet, but I haven’t heard much in particular about that from them at all. However, thinking about it carefully, Scarlet village’s population has been increasing so quickly and there’s been so many children that they should be having an extra difficult time.

“Pretty much, there haven’t really been any problems. Shig and Rin start making a fuss now and then though.”

“Those two, huh…”

Hearing their names, I imagined the two of them making a clamor.

Luka had an obedient and honest personality, and Violet was an adult. Even if they were confused by the differences in their environment and the culture they’d leapt into, they weren’t the kind of people to make problems for others.

The ones making any problems would be one of the two youths, or perhaps even both of them.

Adding on to that, those two seem to have trouble getting along with each other, leading to them bickering with each other right away. I say that, but given how Rin just jumps into things headfirst, I get the feeling that it’s Shig who’s suffering. Rin doesn’t understand the concept of avoiding conflicts at all.

“How do you deal with them when they go at it?”

“You want to know how?”

Following her response, Nina moved her fingers. Vines grew up from the ground, coiling around me and lifting me into the air.

“That’s how.”

“I get it, I get it already, let me down!”

I shouted, panicked.

I grew more uneasy than I thought I would at having my body’s freedom taken away and my feet lifted from the ground. Even if it wasn’t that far up, I still felt fear at wondering if I’d just be dropped all of a sudden.

“And if they still don’t listen, well…”

When Nina waved her fingers again, my body was shaken up and down rather violently. My vision blurred at the jostling, I started grabbing on to the vines on my own volition in fear of being tossed away due to the g-forces I felt. It might look humorous to those seeing it, but it was nothing of the sort for those going through it.

“They started to behave around the third day.”

Obviously they would!

Finally released and left to fall back to the ground, I wanted to shout out but found myself unable due to fighting my nausea.

“Big broooother! Wait, huh? What’s wrong?”

It looked like Violet’s cla.s.s let out. Yuuki, who came by the office on her way back as she usually did, jumped on top of me even while I was still trying to get up. It was alright, though. She didn’t weigh much.

“No, it’s nothing… I’m alright.”

When I told her that it was nothing, she turned and went over to Nina.

“What happened?”

“He said the special cla.s.ses haven’t been going well.”

Oh, come on!

Yuuki just asked the same thing over again and Nina let it slip.

“Oooh. I get it. Rin and Shig right?”

Yuuki immediately figured out the two culprits, probably due to them always being like that.

“It’s not like it’s either of their faults. It’s mine.”

Regardless of their methods, Nina and Violet had been able to continue teaching their cla.s.ses perfunctorily.

“Yeah. I agree!”

Unfortunately, Yuuki agreed with me so fast that I felt a bit sad.

“Big brother’s waaay too soft.”

She didn’t stop there either, she even pat me on the head.

I might cry here, you know?

“A leader should be strong!”

“… A leader?”

I responded to Yuuki, whose words seemed to hold some deeper significance.

“I’m saying, big brother doesn’t feel like a leader.”

It’s true, even I don’t think I’m suited to being a leader. Scarlet doesn’t officially have a village chief, but it’s de facto leader is the head of the Swordsaints. That is, Yuuki’s father, Amaga.

“Leader… a leader, hmm.”

The leader of a village is its village chief, the leader of an academy is its headmaster. However, the leader of a cla.s.sroom is not its instructor.

“Yeah. Let’s decide on a leader.”

Suddenly thinking of it, I spoke.

“Cla.s.s… leader?”

“Yeah. Cla.s.s leader. Leader for short works fine too.”

Hearing Shig ask back my words like a parrot, I responded with a nod. Cla.s.s Chairman wouldn’t have been a good fit since there wasn’t a committee to be in charge of, so I thought that cla.s.s leader would be a more appropriate fit. It’s similar, at least.

“What I’m saying is that let’s decide who the number one person in the cla.s.s is, that’s all. What that person says, goes. Easy, right?”

“Shouldn’t we do what you say, Mentor?”

Violet proposed a legitimate question.

“Yes. Of course, I will be ranked above you all as your instructor. But that’s also the reason why I cannot be your leader. It’s up to you all to determine who the leader is.”

“… I see. So it’s like being a scout leader? Using that example, Mentor, you would be like Eldest?”

Taking a moment to think about it, she understood and responded with that.

“Hey, hey, what kinda thing is it~?”

“Well now… in other words, Mentor, you’re saying that we can think of it as choosing the next person in charge after you?”

Seeing Rin pull on the hem of my clothes, Luka explained what she understood in her own way. It wasn’t entirely accurate, but it was probably easier for her to understand it that way for now.

“I’ll do it!”

“Sounds fun, I wanna do it too!”

Then, as expected, both Shig’s and Rin’s hands shot up right away.

“If it’s alright, could I?”

Then, unexpectedly, Violet joined in as well. She probably felt some measure of apprehension towards letting either of them decide everything. She should be aware of the problem itself, as well. As a woman who served as one of the scout leaders she’d spoken of, Violet being the leader would definitely be a great help to me.

—However.

“Nothing would change if I decided on it myself, now would it? Take me choosing Rin, for instance. Shig, you wouldn’t consent to that, would you?”

“Let alone someone with only two arms, I could not follow someone without any legs.”

I suppose the lizardmen’s sense of values places importance on how many limbs they have?

“Rin’s tail and waist fins act as her arms and legs, so she has the same amount as you, Luka, and me… but, well, let’s leave that for some other time.”

I didn’t exactly have enough time to explain Darwin’s Theory of Evolution just then, nor did I even know for certain if that applied to this world.

“At any rate, we’ll be deciding who through an impartial method.”

“Impartial… like with a fight?”

Shig seemed to look nervous as he glanced over to Violet. Come to think of it, Violet’s cla.s.s hasn’t been having any problems either, has it? I feel like I understand that look of his, somehow.

“No, it’s something everyone is about equal in.”

As I spoke, I took out what I had prepared beforehand.

“Rocks and… wood?”

Seeing what I’d taken out, the students all tilted their heads.